1. Field of the Invention
The invention, in general, relates to a front-loading washing machine and, more particular, to a front-loading washing machine of the kind provided with a housing with a substantially cylindrical sudsing container resiliently suspended therein and a cylindrical drum rotatably arranged within the sudsing container, the front walls or caps of the drum and of the sudsing container as well as the front of the housing being provided with substantially circular and coaxially disposed loading openings, and with an elastomeric folding bellows which sealingly connects the circumferential rim of the openings in the front of the housing and in the sudsing container and which is provided with a crease facing the common axis, and with an at least partially elastomeric extension protruding into the intermediate space between the crease and the rim of the loading opening of the drum, the rim, the upper end of the extension and a part of the crease being at least partially aligned in the axial direction. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a washing machine.
2. The Prior Art
A washing machine of the kind referred to is known from DE 90 15 420 U1. In washing machines of this type, the crease is provided for absorbing oscillations caused by imbalances during spinning and leading to a relative movement or displacement between the sudsing container and the housing. In order to prevent wear of the folding bellows in the area of its crease as a result of friction at the rotating rim of the loading opening of the drum (drum rim), a sufficiently large spacing between the crease and the drum rim is required. This may lead to laundry extending over the rim of the drum slipping deeply into the gap and tearing as a result of the increased friction between the rotating drum and the stationary sudsing container. The extension shown in FIG. 2 of DE 90 15 420 U1 serves as a laundry deflector by reducing the gap between the rim of the drum and the gap, thereby preventing laundry from being pulled into the gap. The friction of the extension at the drum is not critical since its wear does not adversely affect the sealing of the folding bellows.
German Patent DE 102 37 017 B3 discloses a washing machine which in the area of the upper apex of the loading opening of the drum is provided with a laundry deflector. The laundry deflector extends into the space between the crease of the elastomeric folding bellows and the rim of the loading opening of the drum. By an L-shaped bend in the direction of the interior chamber of the drum, any pulled-in laundry is securely guided out of the crease or gap, as the case may be, and falls back into the drum. To this end, a deformation is required in the circumferential rim of the folding bellows in the area of the laundry deflector so that the laundry deflector may extend outwardly between the folding bellows and the rim of the loading opening of the drum. Hence, this area of the folding bellows is subject to premature wear.
It has, however, been found that the function of the deflector principle requires the gap to be adjusted with great precision which, in turn, requires a structurally stable hammer. Narrowing or contractions of the gap lead to wedging or squeezing in of laundry tips and, therefore, to excessive wear of the laundry. These conditions may be satisfied with relative ease in household laundry machines provided with loading openings of a diameter up to about 30 cm. Larger openings not only result in a reduced structural stability of the extension, but during assembly the adjustment of the gap becomes more difficult and complex as the diameter of the folding bellows increases.